Wu Sangui
Encyclopedia
Wu Sangui (1612 – October 2, 1678) was a Ming Chinese general
who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty
in 1644. Considered by traditional scholars as a traitor to both the Ming and the Qing dynasties, Wu declared himself Emperor of China
as ruler of the Great Zhou Dynasty
in 1678, but his revolt was quelled by the Qing Kangxi Emperor
.
Province to Wu Xiang
(吳襄) and Lady Zu. Under the patronage of his father Wu Xiang and maternal uncle Zu Dashou
, he quickly rose to the rank of full General (Zong Bing) at the young age of 27.
He was one of the Generals in 1640 at the Battle of Songjin
, in which Qing forces defeated the Ming. He escaped capture.
at Shanhai Pass
to let Manchu
soldiers, enemies of the Empire which he served, into China proper
.
He did not side with the Manchus until after the defensive capability of the Ming Empire had been greatly weakened and political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng. Wu was about to join the rebel forces of Li, who had already sacked Beijing, when he heard that his concubine Chen Yuanyuan
& father had been taken by Li. Enraged, he contacted and negotiated with the Manchu and their leader Dorgon
, resulting in the opening of the gates of the Great Wall.
It is commonly believed that this act led to the ultimate destruction of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty.
by the Qing imperial court, after he conquered the region from the remnants of Ming loyalists. It had been extremely rare for someone outside of the royal family, especially a non-Manchu, to be granted the title of Wang (king
). Those being awarded the title of Wang who were not members of the royal family were called Yixing Wang (異姓王, literally meaning "kings whose surnames are different from that of the emperor"). It was believed that Yixing Wangs didn't usually have good ends, largely because they were not trusted by emperors as members of the emperors' own family were.
Wu Sangui was not trusted by the Qing imperial court, but he was still able to rule his land with little or no interference from the imperial court, largely because the Manchus, an ethnic minority, needed time after their prolonged conquest to figure out how to impose the rule of a dynasty of minority people on the vast Han-Chinese society they held in their hands. In fact, as a semi-independent ruler in the distant southwest, he was seen as an asset to the Qing court, and for much of his rule he received massive annual subsidies from the central government. This money, as well as the long period of stability, was spent by Wu Sangui in bolstering his army in the southwest, in preparation for an eventual clash with the Qing.
In 1673, the Emperor Kangxi decided to make Wu Sangui and two other princes who had been rewarded with large fiefs in southern and western China, move from their lands to resettle in Manchuria. As a result, the three revolted and thus began the 8-year civil war known as the Revolt of the Three Feudatories
(also known as the San-fan War), with Wu Sangui declaring himself the "All-Supreme-Military Generalissimo" (Tiānxià Dōuzhāotǎo Bīngmǎ Dàyuánshuài 天下都招討兵馬大元帥). In 1678, he went further and declared himself the emperor of a new Great Zhou Dynasty, with the era name
of Zhaowu (昭武). He made his capital at Hengzhou, the modern Hengyang
in Hunan
. When he died in October 1678, Kangxi had his corpse scattered across the provinces of China. His grandson Wu Shifan took over Wu's troops and continued the battle. The remnants of his armies were defeated soon thereafter in December 1681 and Wu Shifan committed suicide; Wu Shigui's son-in-law was sent to Beijing with Wu Shifan's head.
Wu Sangui's son, Wu Yingxiong (吳應熊) (father of Wu Shifan), married the fourteenth daughter (建寧公主) of Manchu emperor Huang Taiji.
is one of the classic love stories in Chinese history.
Wu's early life and military career in portrayed in a more positive light in the CCTV
television drama series Jiangshan Fengyu Qing
, in which he was shown to be forced into making decisions.
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
in 1644. Considered by traditional scholars as a traitor to both the Ming and the Qing dynasties, Wu declared himself Emperor of China
Emperor of China
The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
as ruler of the Great Zhou Dynasty
Great Zhou Dynasty
The Great Zhou Dynasty or Kingdom of Great Zhou may refer to one of two dynasties:* The short-lived 14th-century Kingdom of Dazhou established by the Red Turban rebel Zhang Shicheng* The short-lived 17th-century dynasty established by Wu Sangui...
in 1678, but his revolt was quelled by the Qing Kangxi Emperor
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor ; Manchu: elhe taifin hūwangdi ; Mongolian: Энх-Амгалан хаан, 4 May 1654 –20 December 1722) was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the first to be born on Chinese soil south of the Pass and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722.Kangxi's...
.
Early life and service under Ming
Wu was born in Gaoyou, JiangsuJiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
Province to Wu Xiang
Wu Xiang (Ming General)
Wu Xiang was a general of the Ming Dynasty and the father of Wu Sangui.-Biography:He was reprimanded by the Ming court in the 1630s for failing to join the fight against Nurgaci. The ruling forces of the short-lived Shun Dynasty of late Imperial China took over his house...
(吳襄) and Lady Zu. Under the patronage of his father Wu Xiang and maternal uncle Zu Dashou
Zu Dashou
Zu Dashou was a Ming General under Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong, Marshal Yuan Chonghuan and eventually Marshal Hong Chengchou. He later surrendered to Qing when he was surrounded and the Imperial Ming army commanded by Marshal Hong Chengchou sent to rescue Zu's garrison was defeated.-References:...
, he quickly rose to the rank of full General (Zong Bing) at the young age of 27.
He was one of the Generals in 1640 at the Battle of Songjin
Battle of Songjin
The Battle of Songjin in 1640 was fought at Songshan and Jinzhou , hence the name "Song-Jin". It spelled the end of the Ming Dynasty. Hong Chengchou's 130,000 elite troops, which was sent to break the siege of Jinzhou, were crushed by the Eight banner armies of the Qing Dynasty at Songshan...
, in which Qing forces defeated the Ming. He escaped capture.
Defection to Qing
In 1644, Wu opened the gates of the Great Wall of ChinaGreat Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
at Shanhai Pass
Shanhai Pass
Shanhai Pass , or Shanhaiguan, along with Jiayu Pass and Juyong Pass, is one of the major passes of the Great Wall of China It is located in Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei. In 1961, Shanhaiguan became a site of China First Class National Cultural Site.It is a popular tourist destination,...
to let Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
soldiers, enemies of the Empire which he served, into China proper
China proper
China proper or Eighteen Provinces was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history...
.
He did not side with the Manchus until after the defensive capability of the Ming Empire had been greatly weakened and political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng. Wu was about to join the rebel forces of Li, who had already sacked Beijing, when he heard that his concubine Chen Yuanyuan
Chen Yuanyuan
Chen Yuanyuan , born Xing Yuan , lived near the end of the Ming Dynasty, and was a concubine of Wu Sangui. Her courtesy name was Wanfen . Her actual historical significance is disputed, although it is largely believed that Chen was pivotal in Wu Sangui's campaigns after the fall of the Ming. She...
& father had been taken by Li. Enraged, he contacted and negotiated with the Manchu and their leader Dorgon
Dorgon
Dorgon , also known as Hošoi Mergen Cin Wang, the Prince Rui , was one of the most influential Manchu princes in the early Qing Dynasty. He laid the groundwork for the Manchu rule of China.-Early life:Dorgon was born in Yenden, Manchuria , China...
, resulting in the opening of the gates of the Great Wall.
It is commonly believed that this act led to the ultimate destruction of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty.
Loyalty and revolt
He was rewarded with the position of Pingxi Wang (平西王) in YunnanYunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
by the Qing imperial court, after he conquered the region from the remnants of Ming loyalists. It had been extremely rare for someone outside of the royal family, especially a non-Manchu, to be granted the title of Wang (king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
). Those being awarded the title of Wang who were not members of the royal family were called Yixing Wang (異姓王, literally meaning "kings whose surnames are different from that of the emperor"). It was believed that Yixing Wangs didn't usually have good ends, largely because they were not trusted by emperors as members of the emperors' own family were.
Wu Sangui was not trusted by the Qing imperial court, but he was still able to rule his land with little or no interference from the imperial court, largely because the Manchus, an ethnic minority, needed time after their prolonged conquest to figure out how to impose the rule of a dynasty of minority people on the vast Han-Chinese society they held in their hands. In fact, as a semi-independent ruler in the distant southwest, he was seen as an asset to the Qing court, and for much of his rule he received massive annual subsidies from the central government. This money, as well as the long period of stability, was spent by Wu Sangui in bolstering his army in the southwest, in preparation for an eventual clash with the Qing.
In 1673, the Emperor Kangxi decided to make Wu Sangui and two other princes who had been rewarded with large fiefs in southern and western China, move from their lands to resettle in Manchuria. As a result, the three revolted and thus began the 8-year civil war known as the Revolt of the Three Feudatories
Revolt of the Three Feudatories
The Revolt of the Three Feudatories was a rebellion in the Qing Dynasty during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. The revolt was led by the three lords of the fiefdoms in Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian provinces against the Qing central government....
(also known as the San-fan War), with Wu Sangui declaring himself the "All-Supreme-Military Generalissimo" (Tiānxià Dōuzhāotǎo Bīngmǎ Dàyuánshuài 天下都招討兵馬大元帥). In 1678, he went further and declared himself the emperor of a new Great Zhou Dynasty, with the era name
Chinese era name
A Chinese era name is the regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers . Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back...
of Zhaowu (昭武). He made his capital at Hengzhou, the modern Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
in Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
. When he died in October 1678, Kangxi had his corpse scattered across the provinces of China. His grandson Wu Shifan took over Wu's troops and continued the battle. The remnants of his armies were defeated soon thereafter in December 1681 and Wu Shifan committed suicide; Wu Shigui's son-in-law was sent to Beijing with Wu Shifan's head.
Wu Sangui's son, Wu Yingxiong (吳應熊) (father of Wu Shifan), married the fourteenth daughter (建寧公主) of Manchu emperor Huang Taiji.
In popular culture
Wu was regarded as a traitor and opportunist in contemporary China, due to his betrayal of both the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. However, his romance with his concubine Chen YuanyuanChen Yuanyuan
Chen Yuanyuan , born Xing Yuan , lived near the end of the Ming Dynasty, and was a concubine of Wu Sangui. Her courtesy name was Wanfen . Her actual historical significance is disputed, although it is largely believed that Chen was pivotal in Wu Sangui's campaigns after the fall of the Ming. She...
is one of the classic love stories in Chinese history.
Wu's early life and military career in portrayed in a more positive light in the CCTV
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
television drama series Jiangshan Fengyu Qing
Jiangshan Fengyu Qing
Jiangshan Fengyu Qing is a 2003 Chinese television series based on the novel of the same Chinese title by Zhu Sujin, who was also the screenwriter for the series...
, in which he was shown to be forced into making decisions.
Fiction
- The Deer and the CauldronThe Deer and the CauldronThe Deer and the Cauldron, also known as The Duke of Mount Deer, is a novel by Jin Yong, and was the last of Jin Yong's works. The novel was initially published as a serial, and ran between October 24, 1969 to September 23, 1972 in Ming Pao.Although the book is often termed as a wuxia novel, it is...
(鹿鼎記): a wuxiaWuxiaWuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
novel by Louis Cha. In the story, Wu Sangui was prominently portrait as a strong nemesis to Kangxi whom in turn sends the protagonist, Wei XiaobaoWei XiaobaoWei Xiaobao is the fictional protagonist of Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Deer and the Cauldron . He is a witty, sly and illiterate teenager, born to a prostitute from a brothel in Yangzhou during the Qing Dynasty. He bumbles his way into the Forbidden City and has a fateful encounter with the young...
to scout on Wu's forces in YunnanYunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
.
Great Zhou Dynasty (1678–1681)
| Convention: use personal name | |||
| Temple name Temple name Temple names are commonly used when naming most Chinese, Korean , and Vietnamese royalty. They should not be confused with era names. Compared to posthumous names, the use of temple names is more exclusive... s |
Family name and first name Chinese name Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul"... |
Period of reign | Era name Chinese era name A Chinese era name is the regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers . Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tai Zu (太祖) | Wú Sānguì (吳三桂) | March 1678 – August 1678 | Zhāowǔ (昭武) |
| Wú Shìfán (吳世璠) | August 1678 – 1681 | Hónghuà (洪化) |